


sharpie

by gingergenower



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barista!Emma, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:52:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7995892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergenower/pseuds/gingergenower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mixture of two prompts: 'you’re the customer and you get back at me for all the times I’ve spelt your name wrong by mispronouncing my name in increasingly horrible ways' and 'I write a bad pickup line on cup every time I’m your barista'<br/>AKA<br/>Emma wants attention. She gets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sharpie

**Author's Note:**

> do I need to say I don't own Sharpies? I'd be rich if I owned Sharpies.

It’s third time Emma writes his name- Killean this time, but she scrawled Cillian and Kilian on Wednesday and Friday in black Sharpie- that he gets it. She puts his takeout medio Americano on the counter, careful to have his name pointed out, and calls it even though he’s already walking towards her. He rolls his eyes at the spelling, and she thinks he’s probably impressed how she’s managed to do it differently every time, so she winks at him. His jaw drops, hand curling around the cup but not taking it, and she wiggles her fingers at him and turns to the next order.

Ruby’s told her about flirting with him before. He’s always wearing a leather jacket, and sometimes he’s smudged eyeliner on and his eyes are shocking in their sky blue, and Emma’s been preoccupied by training, but now she’s comfortable she’s learning the regular’s names and drinks and times. She’s noticed him.

By the time she turns back, he’s gone, but she doesn’t think anything of it.

It’s Monday, at the quarter past ten lull, when she sees him again. She’s fussing over the plastic cup lids she knocked over, but she hears his voice and Ruby’s at the till, about to put Sharpie to cup-

She snatches it out of her hand, writes the name (Cilean, today), and gives Ruby the pen back without saying a word. Ruby stares after her as she starts the machine up, but Killian calls after her.

“Have you figured out the right one yet?”

She doesn’t need to watch the machine, but she does. “I’m sure I’ll get it right at somepoint. I’m going by trial and error.”

“Ah, right.” He says something to Ruby, but then Ruby’s moved on and Emma’s already planning the next customer’s six-drink order as he reels it off to Ruby.

She barely thinks about it as she puts the drink down, but he practically takes it out of her hand. “Cheers, Emily,” he says, nodding at Ruby as he heads for the door.

It takes her a moment to look at her badge, and up, and by then he’s gone.

The little shit.

***

She runs out of variations of ‘Killian’ before he runs out of terrible ‘Emma’ substitutes. Not wanting to admit defeat, she starts writing ‘K’ or ‘C’ and making the rest of his name an illegible scribble, but he’s ready every day with a new one. It gets increasingly ridiculous- ‘Emmers’ and ‘Emmie’ at first, but then he progresses to ‘Emmeline’ and ‘Emmett’ and ‘Emmanuel’. On ‘Emmanuel’, the next customer in line- a middle aged man, not a regular, his suit crisp and pocket square neat, overhears. The man frowns, double taking at Emma and then Killian, but it also seems neither of them are willing to crack when it comes to smiling, either, so she pretends nothing is wrong with calling her Emmanuel, completely blank in her expression.

They keep it up for two weeks, and she doesn’t see him on Sundays or Thursdays because they’re her days off, but he comes every day she does. He writes music, and his major at college was American Literature (he doesn’t know why), and his agent is an asshole who gets him good gigs, and he doesn’t have sugar or milk because a friend told him he’d never like coffee because it would be too bitter so Killian drank it black until he liked it.

She tells him her favourite drink is a mocha with hazelnut syrup and whipped cream and the next time he comes in, he orders it. He has one sip, pulls a strange face, sips again, and stares at the ceiling.

“Do you like it?”

He drinks deeply. “This is going to be a problem. I’m not allowed more than one of these a week, you hear me?”

Pressing her lips together and holding her hands up, she makes no such promise. Ruby does, agreeing not to take his money, and when he’s gone she turns to Emma.

“Ask him out already, you’re both actually killing me. _Jesus_.”

So, the next day, she preps his cup, putting it to one side and picking it when he comes in. She spells his name right.

_Killian- is it just me, or do you feel something brewing between us?_

It takes him a second to read it, and his face is deadpan. “Lass, is that a pun?”

She blinks. “Hmm, what? No idea what you’re talking about.”

He rubs his face with his hands, then gestures at Ruby, who tosses him her pen. He writes his number on a napkin, and she reads the message as he walks away.

_Emma- It’s not just you, but you should know: it might get hot._

“Yours is worse!” she yells after him, and he laughs as she shows Ruby.

She texts him on her break.

**Author's Note:**

> ~see y'all later thanks for letting me know what you think~


End file.
